


Mother Hen

by ElliotsArchives



Series: A.C.E Interactions Series [2]
Category: A.C.E (Beat Interactive Band), VIXX
Genre: A.C.E’s Debut, Awkward Park Junhee | Jun, Brotherly Affection, Cactus/Shangri-La Era, Gen, Hakyeon and Junhee are old pals from Jellyfish trainee days, Junhee Centric, Reunions, The Case of Hyuk’s Stolen Cell Phone, and by pals I mean Hakyeon adopted a very small Junhee
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-04-26 10:17:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14400069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElliotsArchives/pseuds/ElliotsArchives
Summary: Junhee wonders if Hakyeon even remembers him. It’d been many years since they’d seen each other, after all.Spoiler alert: he does.





	Mother Hen

**Author's Note:**

> This took nearly three months for me to write, but _here it is_. Hell yeah. Also I cut it in two.
> 
> Fun fact: VIXX won their first award on SBS' The Show for Shangri-La _the night A.C.E debuted_. [Video evidence](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RdSzOayn1u4) (Warning on quality). VIXX gives their thanks for winning, and then you can see A.C.E behind the MC's at about 3:50!

Park Junhee was not nervous.

He couldn’t afford to be, not tonight, and especially not when his members were depending on him to be their strong leader.

A.C.E was currently waiting backstage for _The Show_ , amongst other senior and rookie idol groups. They’d been instructed by some managers of when they’d be going on, and where to stay until then. For now, they waited. 

Junhee was spending that time until their performance swallowing down his nerves. That, and keeping an eye on his groupmates.

Byeongkwan had been pacing back and forth, muttering step sequences under his breath, ever the perfectionist. Donghun was doing basic vocal warmups and singing short parts of their song. Sehyoon and Yuchan paid more attention to one of the television screens broadcasting the onstage performances, but Junhee could see how nervous they were. Yuchan had been biting his lips and Sehyoon was picking at his nails. Their collective frayed nerves were hard to miss.

Junhee tried distracting himself by scrolling through Twitter. The endless support from all of their fans _\- their Choice -_  made him smile inwardly. Dozens of heartfelt messages and responses, congratulations on their debut, wishes of luck across every media site they had... It all made Junhee feel more confident and determined to do well. Even now, people were tweeting at them, ever so happy at their debut and showcases.

He was about to keep scrolling when his phone buzzed suddenly, and a small alert popped up.

 _Battery at 10%_.

Oh. Junhee must’ve forgetten to charge his phone that afternoon. They had been in a pretty big rush. Looking up and around at his members, he pouted. He doubted any of them had a charger, but he couldn’t just let his phone die. He’d have to make calls to the managers and CEO when they were leaving, and give updates to Choice after _The Show_.

Junhee stood up to stretch a little and began to seek a charger and outlet. The others were pretty self occupied, so leaving for a moment should be fine.

Navigating through the backstage room was pretty hard. It was packed full of idols and managers, all shuffling around, watching screens or talking amongst themselves. Junhee felt too awkward to approach any of his seniors to ask for a _phone charger_ , of all things. He instead tried to find an unoccupied staff member and ask them.

After a minute of looking around aimlessly, thankfully, one approached Junhee. She was a short woman in a headset and neat clothes, and a bored expression.

“Jun of A.C.E, correct?” The woman said.

“Thats correct,” Junhee bowed his head in greeting.

“Your group is on after this next stage. Please be prepared to go on,” she stated simply, turning to leave.

Their performance was soon. Junhee had to get the others. But first -

“Ah, excuse me, you wouldn’t happen to have a place for me to charge my phone, would you?” Junhee hastily asked before she ended up walking away.

She stared blankly at him. Junhee felt embarrassed for asking, but then she pointed towards a table in one of the room’s corners. It was littered with unoccupied phones and various cords.

“Thank you very much,” Junhee smiled. The woman nodded and went about her way.

No one was really around the phone table, so reaching it was rather easy. Scanning over the cords, Junhee found the correct charger... plugged into another phone already.

Junhee frowned a little. He didn’t mean to snoop, but he unlocked the screen to display the phone’s percentage. He tried not to focus on the background or any notifications.

 _Battery: 53%, Charging,_ it read _._

His phone was definitely in more need of a charge than this stranger’s. He carefully unplugged their phone and plugged in his own, setting it beside the other.

 _Battery: 9%, Charging_. Perfect. He could grab his phone after their performance, probably before the original phone’s owner would even notice.

Junhee hurried back to where the rest of A.C.E were anxiously waiting.

“Alright, everyone,” Junhee spoke in his clearest ‘leader voice’, making the others pay attention to him. “We’re up next.”

Ushering themselves towards the stage entrance, they met with another stagehand who told them how to enter, how to exit, etc. Junhee absorbed the information for future reference.

It was mere moments before they’d walk on stage and debut to so many people. The earlier anxiety and excitement was back.

“Any thoughts before we do this?” Junhee inquired his members, holding out his hand.

“We’re gonna do great!” Yuchan immediately spoke up, and placed his hand on Jun’s.

“All that practicing leads up to this,” Donghun said, following Yuchan’s lead. “Let’s do our best.”

“For our families, our friends, and our fans,” Sehyoon spoke softly, but Junhee could hear his smile. “We’ll make them proud.”

“Let’s make our old companies regret letting us get away!” Byeongkwan grinned mischievously.

Junhee was _not_ a little misty-eyed as he stared down at their joined hands, listening to all their genuine words. _It‘s not a sad moment, Junhee! Pull yourself together._

“For us. For our future. And for A.C.E.”

“ _Set to be a hero!_ ” They all managed to resist shouting it, instead keeping it a hushed cheer.

The stage was waiting.

_

Performing on stage was pure electricity.

Every fiber of Junhee’s being buzzed from his anticipation. He could feel it pulsing through himself and his members. He thought the feeling would settle down after they’d finished, but here Junhee was, standing idly backstage unable to remain still or keep the smile off his face. Not that the other A.C.E members were faring any better.

A sharp gasp snapped Junhee out his thoughts. Beside him, Yuchan tugged on his arm, and pointed at one of the screens on the wall.

“Hyung, look!” The youngest said excitedly. “There’s us!”

Sure enough, the screen showed their stage they’d just finished. The beginning of the music, the lowered lights...

All five members of A.C.E watched with baited breath. It was always weird, watching themselves perform. They’d always found watching their YouTube videos a little awkward, at least at first. But something about performing on TV was even more surreal. They weren’t the only ones who’d see their performance. The crowd, the viewers, even the other idols performing on the show would see them. The reach was much more guaranteed than online.

A warm sense of pride washed over Junhee as their stage seemed to end as quickly as it began. The final shot was of himself, staring intently at the camera. While Junhee shrunk a little, embarrassed, the rest of A.C.E were estatic at how cool Junhee looked. He flushed under their praise. He thought for certain they’d poke fun at him, even just a little, but their bright mood seemed to be a good distraction. The screen then cut to a commercial after the MCs were shown briefly.

Junhee stepped forward and turned to face his members. All four looked expectedly at their leader.

He took a deep breath. Paused. Then smiled. “We did it. Great job.”

The members of A.C.E rushed forward, pulling Junhee into a big, sweaty group hug. He didn’t care, though. His own excitement made him outright squeal and embrace his group. He was pretty sure someone (Donghun) had begun crying (again), and the ecstatic shouts of the other three made his ears ring. It was a moment of pure pride and emotion.

 _We did it_ , Junhee thought, clinging to his member, his friends, his _brothers_. _We’ve finally debuted proper._

All those years of training, blood, sweat, and tears were finally worth it. Months - _years_ \- of preparations, buskings, covers, and tireless effort all for this one night. This one feeling.

_We did it. We’re A.C.E now._

Junhee couldn’t be happier.

_

Eventually, A.C.E and the rest of the idol groups waiting backstage were all called out for the _The Show_ ’s final voting. Realistically, Junhee knew A.C.E wouldn’t win. It was their _debut_ night, and plenty of more popular senior groups had performed alongside them. But he still got his hopes up, just a little.

A.C.E stood near the back of the little crowd on stage, trying to peek above and around all the other idols to get a better look.

Junhee could make out where the MCs were standing and chatting, mostly hearing what they said via the speakers.

“Who do you think is going to win?” Yuchan whispered to Byeongkwan. If they weren’t so close, Junhee wouldn’t have heard them at all.

Byeongkwan seemed to consider Yuchan’s question for a long moment.

“Probably TWICE. With their popularity and charm, it makes the most sense.”

Yuchan seemed to agree with his reasoning. Junhee tried not a comment they were biased, as ex-JYP trainees.

“I think A.C.E’ll win,” Sehyoon said, completely nonchalantly. Junhee tried (and failed) to keep a completely straight face, while the youngest two hid their giggles from any potential camera angles. Donghun looked like he wanted to scold him in that moment. He settled for elbowing Sehyoon in the ribs, and was satisfied by the boy’s pained reaction. Junhee was glad they were all starting to relax a little.

Junhee wondered himself who’d be voted the winner, if he had any input. The answer was easy for him.

 _VIXX_.

(If his groupmates could be biased, so could Junhee. That was only fair.)

It was hard to miss the tall men at the front of stage, draped in traditional white garbs, towering above the MCs. They were positively beaming, all warm smiles and completely in their element, the grace from the latest comeback ever present. It always impressed Junhee how at relaxed idols could seem, how used to the stages, the lights, the attention they became. He was curious of how long it would take A.C.E. How long it would take him.

His eyes naturally drifted towards a certain member of VIXX - not the tallest amongst them, but certainly taller than himself.

Cha Hakyeon was standing at complete ease amongst his members, smiling. That smile hadn’t changed at all.

(For a moment, Junhee was a starry-eyed teenager again, watching Hakyeon from a distance. A warm presence, a caring figure. It was easy to be comfortable around him. But Junhee was no longer a teenager, and Hakyeon no longer familiar.)

It felt silly, but Junhee wondered how Hakyeon was. Outside of his public image, past his presence as ‘VIXX’s leader N.’ But he figured only VIXX would know that. Junhee was like that with A.C.E, hiding his insecurities and lowest points for scarce few private moments. He figured Hakyeon had to have it worse, being in the industry this long, and as popular as he was.

Junhee was so busy staring at Hakyeon lost in thought, he missed the MCs announcing the results of the voting. He only snapped back to reality when the crowd had broken into loud applause. 

VIXX had won.

Confetti rained down, with the crowd of idols and audience members all applauding.

Slowly, the crowd began to move off stage. Junhee let himself be swept away with it. He bowed to other idols along with his members, trying to match names and faces, groups and stages. It was a pretty half-hearted attempted, though, because Junhee was still distracted.

His eyes wandered back to VIXX, who remained on stage for their encore, as expected. The speakers played the instrumental to Shangri-La loud and clear, a cheering of VIXX’s fanchant accompanying it. Hakyeon was smiling, waving at cameras and the audience, clearly satisfied with his group’s win. And as his part came up, Junhee finally lost sight of Hakyeon, but could still catch his words in his air.

“ _My night and day are all of you..._ ”

_

Immediately after settling in their van, the members of A.C.E deflated.

“I didn’t know these shows could be so tiring...” Byeongkwan half-whined from the back seat. Sehyoon, who was leaning against the younger, grunted in agreement.

Car rides were usually quiet, each member usually valuing the brief rest it allowed. Some days, especially with a camera, they could be rowdier and more energized. Tonight wasn’t such a night. Junhee could see everyone nodding off in the rear view mirror from the passenger’s seat, content but no doubt exhausted. It made his own eyes heavy to see Yuchan nodding off, or Donghun humming lightly with his eyes closed.

City lights flickered in and out of sight through the car window, stark against the darkened sky. It had gotten late, but no later than A.C.E was used to.

The manager driving them back to their apartment hadn’t said much. A simple greeting when they’d been picked up, nothing more. Junhee was grateful for the company helping out. They’d driven themselves around for months when they’d been working towards debut. They didn’t mind too much, and it made having someone else drive them now feel luxurious. Another odd normality in any idol’s routine.

 _Idols_ , Junhee thought with a deep breath. _We’re idols now._

It was still a bizarre feeling. Foreign, but nice.

The van slowed to a stop, and Junhee noticed they’d reached home. He was quick to start waking the rest of his group.

“Dinner and warm beds await,” Junhee chimed as they all began to undo seatbelts. Donghun was the first out of the van, yawning, followed by Byeongkwan and Sehyoon.

“Can we order chicken?” Yuchan mumbled, still rubbing his face. It was such a cute voice and sight, Junhee almost immediately agreed. But he could feel the manager’s stare. Their diets were always strict...

“We’ll decided inside,” Junhee said carefully. Yuchan accepted that and climbed out.

 _We’ve finally debuted, and if they want celebratory chicken, what kind of leader am I to deny it?_ Junhee smiled to himself. They’d definitely be getting chicken. Junhee then opened his own door, and thanked the manager.

“You’ve a busy day tomorrow, too,” the manager said. “Don’t stay up too late.”

“Of course. Thank you again. Have a nice night.”

With a small wave, Junhee watched the van drive away, and his shoulders slumped.

As the others quickly headed inside, talking about _The Show_ and what to order for dinner, Junhee lingered.

It was a calm night. The faint sound of the nearby river made a very calming white noise. The excitement from performing - from _debuting_ \- was beginning to settle in Junhee’s bones. He breathed, and allowed himself to just... revel in that feeling.

A sudden ringtone brought Junhee back to earth. It was his phone. He quickly dug it out of his pocket.

 _Incoming Call: Mother Hen_.

Junhee blinked at his phone. He... didn’t have a contact saved like that. He had cute nicknames for each member of A.C.E, personalized contacts and ringtones for his family, and all of the staff and CEO had their proper names.

The call eventually ended and Junhee was left staring at a foreign lockscreen, filled with notifications.

 

_(1) Missed Call: Mother Hen [Now]_

 

_[New Messages] Group: The Six Idiots_

**Father of Butt:** have you tried calling it? _[1 Minute Ago]_

 **KongBean:** I haven’t seen it. _[2 Minutes Ago]_

 **Bullied Hyung:** no. _[2 Minutes Ago]_

 **Mother Hen:** Has anyone seen Hyukkie’s phone? _[2 Minutes Ago]_

 **Mother Hen:** >:( _[42 Minutes Ago]_

 **KeKeKeHyung:** gross _[43 Minutes Ago]_

 **Mother Hen:** Be sure to grab anything you brought! Meet at the car.  <3 _[43 Minutes Ago]_

 

Junhee had frozen, staring at the screen in disbelief.

This wasn’t his phone.

He had grabbed the _wrong phone_. How had he even managed to do that?!

He couldn’t begin to think about what to do before the phone was ringing again, nearly giving Junhee a heart attack. It was ‘Mother Hen’, again. Junhee panicked briefly. He knew he should answer, but how does he explain himself? He steadied his breath, sliding over to _Answer_ , and pressed the phone to his ear.

“H-hello?”

“ _Oh, Hyukkie, did you find your phone?_ ” A smooth, oddly joyful voice spoke.

“I, uhh...” Junhee’s throat went dry. A thousand thoughts ran through his head, and he couldn’t catch one. “Actually, I-”

There was some loud commotion over the phone, and Junhee pulled it away from his ear reflexively. He heard some garbled shouts and he was sure someone _screamed_. The only voice he could distinguish was ‘Mother Hen’, who was scolding whoever was being so loud.

“ _Did you leave it in the car?_ ” Pause. “ _Hyukkie?_ ”

“This isn’t, um, ‘Hyukkie’,” Junhee finally admitted.

The line was quiet for a long moment and Junhee thought the call might’ve dropped. But no, it was still displayed as ongoing as he checked.

“ _Oh_.” The other person said, now unamused. “ _Might I ask who this is? And how you have my Hyukkie’s phone?_ ”

Junhee collected himself and began to explain. “Hello, I’m Jun, leader of the rookie group A.C.E. I must’ve accidentally grabbed, uh, ‘Hyukkie’s phone when I was leaving with my group after performing tonight... I mistook it for mine...”

His face was positively burning in shame. Reaccounting his mistake made him feel even more careless.

“I-I’m really sorry, sunbae,” Junhee squeaked out and immediately regret it. He wanted to die. _Sunbae_? Really, Junhee? Why was he so awkward? What if they weren’t even an idol?

Junhee’s momentary wish for something to strike him down was interrupted by something: a noise coming from the phone. It was airy, and bright, and breathless.

He was  _laughing_ at him.

(Their laugh was warm, and sounded so _familiar_. It brought back memories of late night practices, comforting talks, and encouraging words.)

“ _Oh!_ ” ‘Mother Hen’ suddenly proclaimed. “ _Here’s Hyukkie now!_ ”

There was another clamour in the background, a bit of teasing and shuffling around. Whoever else was in the room were talking loudly to each other. Then there was a sharp _beep_  from the phone, and it was silent.

Maybe he hung up..?

“ _Say hi, you’re on speaker_ ,” ‘Mother Hen’s voice was dripping with mirth.

Definitely didn’t hang up.

“H... hello,” Junhee managed. “I’m Jun the, uh, the phone thief...”

Snickers followed, and Junhee swore someone was shoved to the ground with a shout and a thud.

“ _Hyukkie, did you hear that?_ ” Junhee heard a different person speak. His voice was much deeper than ‘Mother Hen’. “ _Some rookie stole your phone!_ ”

Junhee’s ears were hot as the entire room seemed to join in on the teasing. He felt bad for ‘Hyukkie’, both for the phone theft and the targeting that followed.

“ _Who’s your group? You said a rookie, right?_ ” This voice was much louder, a combination of shouting and being too close to the phone.

“I’m the leader of A.C.E. We debuted just tonight, sunbae.”

They reacted with various impresses noises. A couple cooed, and Junhee flushed.

“ _Ah, to be young again_ ,” ‘Mother Hen’ sighed dreamily.

“ _What happened to ‘I’m not that old,’ hyung?_ ” Another new voice mocked - this one sounding younger than the others. His tone reminded Junhee of Yuchan.

“ _Hey! You should be respectful! I’m not the one who managed to lose their phone._ ”

More bickering happened, and the confusing noise started to make Junhee’s head hurt. He couldn’t tell one person from another.

He was so caught up in the conversation at hand, he didn’t feel something on his shoulder. Which was a hand.

Junhee almost screeched, clutching the phone and his chest.

“Holy shit, Junhee hyung, are you okay?”

Junhee turned to see Byeongkwan behind him. He had changed out of his stage outfit and removed his makeup.

“You’ve been out here a while,” Byeongkwan said, brows furrowed. “Is everything okay?”

Junhee checked the time on ‘Hyukkie’s phone. He’d been outside for nearly twenty minutes since they’d arrived home.

“Oh! Yes, everything’s fine, just... Great. I had some calls to make, you know...” It sounded like an excuse, but Junhee was too embarrassed to admit what had happened.

Byeongkwan, thankfully, accepted his answer. “Well, Donghun hyung ordered chicken for all of us. It should be here soon.”

“Thank you, Kwannie. Tell Donghun thanks, too.”

“Sure thing,” the younger nodded and began heading back inside. Junhee remained planted in place.

When Byeongkwan noticed Junhee hadn’t moved, he’d well reached the door, and look at him in confusion.

“Are you coming in..?”

“I, well... I’ll be right in. After I’m done with this,” Junhee held the phone out.

“Okay, hyung. Don’t be long.”

After Byeongkwan closed the door behind him, Junhee focused back on the call. They had managed to keep the arguing up in Junhee’s absence.

“ _You left me at a gas station! I was still a kid!_ ” The youngest was shouting.

“ _That was one time!_ ” The deep-voiced one shouted back. He was sure they’d keep fighting if he didn’t interrupt them.

“Excuse me!” Junhee tried calling into the phone. When no one said anything, he kept going.

“I would like to return your phone, and not cause more of an inconvenience than I already have.”

“ _Oh, this is no inconvenience_ ,” a fifth person was talking now, voice happy. “ _This is the most exciting thing that’s happened to us in weeks_.”

Junhee idly wondered which voice belonged to which contact name. He recalled at least five different ones, including ‘Mother Hen’. Counting ‘Hyukkie’, that made six total people.

“Still...”

“ _You said you just debuted, right?_ ” ‘Mother Hen’ took the lead in the conversation. “ _That means you’re pretty busy right now_.”

“Yes.”

“ _We’re busy too, with our latest promotions_.”

“Of course.”

“ _So how about we meet up sometime before we’re all running around for interviews and shows, so you can give us the phone?_ ”

That sounded like a relatively good idea.

“Could we meet somewhere in the morning?” Junhee asked, a little weight off his shoulders.

“ _Sure thing! I’ll text - oh wait, you can’t reply. Then I’ll call you and we can pick a place to meet! Sound good?_ ”

“Sounds good, sunbae. Sorry again.”

“ _Ah, please, there’s no need for ‘sunbae’_ ,” ‘Mother Hen’ insisted. “ _If you must, just call me ‘hyung’! I assume you’re younger than me._ ”

“ _Most people are_ ,” Junhee thought someone was whispering. It was incredibly soft. Yet another new voice, and who Junhee thought (and hoped) was the last. The quiet quip earned a round of chuckles.

“ _We are the same age! Don’t start with me!_ ”

Junhee felt a small giggle bubble up. All of these people seemed very close.

”So, morning meet up. I’ll see you there... hyung,” Junhee confirmed.

“Yes. I look forward to it, Jun of A.C.E,” ‘Mother Hen’ hummed, annoyance melting away.

Junhee blinked, processing all the information.

“Oh, hyung, I didn’t catch your name. Er, any of your names, actually.”

“... _I forgot to introduce myself?_ ”

“ _Great going, hyung_.”

“ _Han Sanghyuk, one more peep, and you will not eat for a week, so help me!_ ”

... Wait.

Han Sanghyuk? As in -

‘Hyukkie’. Oh. _Oh_.

It clicked. Junhee suddenly felt very cold. And if that was Hyuk, that meant -

“ _Well, I’m Hakyeon_ ,” ‘Mother Hen’, finally confirmed Junhee’s suspicions.

Junhee had stolen VIXX’s maknae’s phone. Junhee was currently speaking to VIXX’s leader, along with the rest of the group, via said stolen phone.

“Ah.” Was all Junhee mustered out.

“ _I’ll be sure to call you first thing, then_ ,” Hakyeon continued. “ _Have a good rest of your night, Jun. Be sure to charge Hyukkie’s phone! I know he forgets to_.”

A shout of protest in the background was cut off suddenly.

“Good night, Hakyeon hyung,” Junhee’s voice had dropped in volume.

Hakyeon, ever oblivious (or probably too preoccupied), didn’t notice and simply replied, “Good night.”

The line went completely quiet, and Junhee was left with his thoughts and feelings. Too tired now, he only thought of one thing.

_Please let that chicken get here fast._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cut this into two parts because 1) my sanity, and 2) I’ll never post anything if I didn’t.
> 
> Special shoutout to Le (@acekingdom on Tumblr) for listening to me ramble for d a y s. Love you.
> 
> I'm on Tumblr, screaming, 90% of the time: @wowed-by-ace
> 
> Have a wonderful night/day <3


End file.
